Microsoft is rolling out today Windows 10 Insider PC build 16232 to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring, including several new security features announced earlier this week. However, the head of the Windows Insider program shared an important note about app updates for native Windows 10 apps. Going forward, Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring will no longer receive updates for native apps such as Photos and Outlook Mobile and Calendar, as Microsoft wants Insiders to experience “the same version of Windows that will be released as the default version for all Windows users.”
According to Dona Sarkar, this is a temporary measure and feedback from Insiders on these native apps should improve the quality of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for all Windows users. However, Sarkar added that Windows Insiders should start receiving new updates for these native apps “in the near future.”
You can read Sarkar’s full note below:
In order to provide Windows customers with the highest quality inbox apps possible, we will pause testing new versions of our inbox apps with Windows Insiders. This means that Insiders will not receive app updates from the Windows Store for our inbox apps that are newer than the apps included in the build. Insiders may notice that some features we were testing in our inbox apps – including recent updates to the Photos app – will temporarily disappear. This is because some of our inbox apps won’t have all the latest new features without getting an update from the Store. It is critical that Insiders are experiencing the same version of Windows that will be released as the default version for all Windows users. Insiders will once again start receiving app updates in the very near future. As always, your feedback will help us tremendously to define the overall Windows experience and insure the quality of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is excellent for our customers.
This may be disappointing for Windows Insiders that liked to live on the bleeding edge. However, you may remember that Microsoft did something similar earlier this year, when the company decided to pause app updates for Fast Ring Insiders ahead of the release of the Creators Update:
Yup. Once folks feel good about inbox apps, will ship updates to Fast again.
— Brandon LeBlanc (@brandonleblanc) February 28, 2017
So, Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring will no longer be able to test preview versions of Windows 10 native apps for some time, but it’s not all bad as recent builds consistently bring a lot of new features to play with. Let us know your thoughts about this announcement in the comments below.
